Sivan's 'AIDS Jaago' film better than mine: Vishal

Mumbai, Dec 13 (IANS) Although social activist Nafisa Ali has singled out Vishal Bharadwaj's 'Blood Brothers' as the best of the four-film bouquet called 'AIDS Jaago', the director himself rates Santosh Sivan's 'Prarambh' as the best.

'Sivan's film 'Prarambh' is far better than mine. His is by far the best of the bouquet. His film comes straight from the heart. I'm openly saying Santosh's film is far better than mine. So I don't mind the comparisons with the other films in the bouquet. Mine is not bad,' Bharadwaj told IANS.

US-based Indian filmmaker Mira Nair spearheaded the 'AIDS Jaago' project, which was premiered at the 38th International Film Festival of India at Goa. Farhan Akhtar and Nair have also contributed to the 80-minute edition and their segments are titled segment 'Positive' and 'Migration' respectively. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has funded all the four films.

Bharadwaj is happy that his film got good reviews.

'Everything had to be put into 15-20 minutes. It was well-received at the Toronto Film Festival. And I was happy about that. But now that it has been screened in India I feel even happier. The film was made to put across awareness about AIDS. I was told it'd be 15-20 minutes. I've always been very fond of the short-story format. My 'Blue Umbrella' was a short story to begin with.'

About 'Blood Brothers', he said: 'It's quite a multi-starrer. It has Siddharth (Tamil actor) in the lead. I think he's too mature for his age. He's so well-read and experienced so much of the world cinema. I'd love to work with him again. My film also stars Ayesha Takia, Pavan Malhotra and Pankaj Kapur in a small role. Can you imagine how difficult it was to accommodate them in a film of 15-20 minutes?'

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